Perception, the Atonement for Sins, and Grunge Bands
by Space Mercutio
Summary: As team leader, fitting in with your team can be hard. Trying to get to know his teammates better, Elias decides to help Shard achieve something that's been on his bucket list. The item? Attending one of the most raucous concerts Elias has ever seen, without being recognized.
1. Chapter 1

Elias had slept late. Well, late for him. He'd woken up at 9, which he supposed was still far too early for someone like Shard or Larry. The point was, he had slept later than usual. But it was noon now, and Elias was pretty sure that he was fully awake. So what else could explain Shard giggling to himself...about nothing that anyone else could see?

Shard sat by himself in his room, door open, seemingly oblivious to Elias. And yes, he was giggling. "Shard?" Elias asked. "Is everything okay?"

Shard chuckled now, shaking his head, but not in response to Elias. "Shard?" Elias asked again, a little louder.

This time, Shard noticed him. "Oh, hey, Elias." Another chuckle. "Man, I wish you could read this."

Elias furrowed his brow. "Read what?"

Shard, in response, tapped his metal skull. "I've downloaded a magazine - well, _pirated_ , really; you can't get anything through Ixis Naugus' censoring these days - and it's exactly how I thought it would be. Utter trash."

"This is funny because…"

"It's so bad it's good, dude. Thirty different articles that are all equally bad? You've gotta be trying that."

"Bad? Bad how?"

"I'll give you a hint. 'Seven ways to tell your crush you love her...with balloon animals.' If that's not the stupidest thing you've ever read…"

"You should've seen some of the stuff that Hamlin would try to get through the council sometimes," Elias countered.

"'How I became my true self: half-porcupine, half-zebra, all happy,'" Shard read out loud.

"How can you be 200% of anything?"

"'What your batting average says about your future,'" Shard continued.

"If you get a low score, you better run," Elias mocked.

"Here's the best one, dude. 'How I learned to stop worrying and love fecal jokes.'"

He was clearly trying to make Elias smile. Elias humored him, even laughing. "If this is news-worthy, I'd love to know what isn't," he smirked.

The look on Shard's face changed from playful to interested. "Huh. This looks like fun."

"What?"

"Well, it's a question. 'What's the one thing on your bucket list that you can't do by yourself?' How about it, chief?"

Elias thought hard. A lot of the things on his bucket list he wouldn't be able to do for a while, it seemed. Seeing his family was definitely out of the question until Naugus was gone, and he'd already done regular things like skydiving (though certainly not under normal circumstances). "You know, I'm not really sure," he admitted finally. "I kind of gave up on a bucket list for a while."

"There's gotta be something," Shard pressed.

"No, nothing. Why, what's yours?"

"A Stinking Weasels concert."

Four words had just come out of Shard's mouth, and Elias had no idea what any of them meant together. "A... _what_ , exactly?"

"You know, the Stinking Weasels."

Elias didn't know. "Do they smell that bad?" he said, completely serious.

Shard laughed. "No, dude. They're a band. The grungiest thing since Uncle Chuck's garage. I guess all that princely grooming meant you basically lived under a rock, huh?"

"Hey now," Elias warned. "I knew who Sonic the Hedgehog was."

"Just like the rest of the world," Shard grinned. "Let me guess, you also know that fire is hot and sugar tastes good?"

Elias couldn't help but smile. Shard was getting good at making him do that.

"Anyway," Shard continued, "I don't know that it's a realistic dream...there's a lot of people who look at me and just think Metal Sonic. And I'd need a real ID to attend a concert."

"You can pirate magazines but not fake an ID?"

Now Shard smiled. "I don't know. Hey, is it lunch time yet?"

"You can't eat, Shard," Elias reminded him.

* * *

Incidentally, it _had_ been lunch time, and shortly afterward, Elias returned to his room for some reading and thinking. Today it was _Catch-22_ by Joseph Heller, which was a long book by any account, but packed full of humor. He wondered if the other members of his team would enjoy it as much as he was, and just like that, Elias' mind was off the book and wandering.

Elias was certainly proud to be a Secret Freedom Fighter, and he loved his teammates, no doubt. But the more he thought about it (and the more time he spent with his teammates), the less he knew about his team. If Shard was an amateur magazine critic and Stinking Weasels fan in his spare time, who knew what people like Leeta or Larry did in their spare time? Did they cook? Did they play music on the streets? Did they like economics?

What did, say, Silver like? ...Wait, Elias knew that one. He liked discovering the traitor. Silver had a one-track mind. But besides that, what did Silver like?

 _Maybe it's about time I started_ really _getting to know my team_ , Elias thought to himself. _Not just as a leader, but as a friend. Starting with the amateur magazine critic himself, Shard._

* * *

Shard was inarguably hard to shop for. Elias found what he needed.

Within a few hours after leaving his room and the HQ (disguised heavily, of course), Elias had returned to the compound with clothes that he thought would fit Shard suitably. A stretchy grey sweatshirt and thick olive-green pants would be enough to cover him, along with a black baseball cap. With luck, they wouldn't look too suspicious where they were going. _Imagine that. Elias Acorn in trouble with the law._

Elias rapped a knuckle on Shard's door twice. Shard's head instantly poked out the now-open door. "Is it dinner?" he said excitedly.

"You still can't eat," Elias smiled.

"Not with that attitude, I can't," Shard pouted.

"Anyway...that's not what I came here for."

"Why did you come if it wasn't for dinner?" Shard asked, genuinely confused.

"You have plans for after dinner?"

"No, why?"

"I think I might have heard about someone's wish to see a Stinking Weasels concert…" Elias procured the clothes and two tickets. "Was it your wish?"

"Holy geez...I didn't think anything was better than dinner, but you just made my day, man."

"I tried."

"I mean, you're like a saint! Like a god on Mobius! A king like Max Acorn! Wait, maybe that last one was in poor taste-"

Elias rolled his eyes. "You can save the ego-stroking for later. It's time for dinner."


	2. Chapter 2

_Yeah, this sweatshirt makes me look fat,_ Shard thought in the packed concert venue.

It was hot, smelly, and cramped in there - but it wasn't like Shard could feel those things, anyway. To keep himself out of the public eye, Shard was dressed in the thick clothing Elias had bought him, while Elias had had to take other measures to hide himself.

Because Elias was the former king, Shard could understand that disguise was one of the many things he'd learned before inheriting the throne. Shard had never expected it to be this _good_ , though. Even before he'd undergone some makeup, Elias looked like a completely different person in regular clothes and regular posture. Elias assured him that everyone who would be at the concert was so used to his royal appearance that he'd be virtually unrecognizable as an everyman. The makeup would help to solidify the act, even so.

The disguise was so good that Shard was feeling inadequate. Elias also assured him that Shard's disguise would work so long as he didn't draw too much attention to himself. Despite this, Shard was starting to have second thoughts. He supposed it wasn't every day that the most efficient fighting machine in the world went to a Stinking Weasels concert.

Elias and Shard took their seats, in between two loud and probably drunk groups of friends. Well, _now_ it was starting to feel more homely. To be honest, it was exactly how Shard had thought a Stinking Weasels concert should be.

"Not much in the way of fresh air, huh?" Elias said, clearly out of his element.

"Nope!" Shard agreed happily, although technically he couldn't breathe air. Also, he technically wasn't happy.

Shard was starting to feel like this was a bad idea, actually. If he got caught - or if Elias got caught, really - they'd be in loads of trouble. Not to mention, they wouldn't be able to go anywhere without a camera on them for a long time after that.

"Hey, does the Chief know about this?" Shard asked.

Elias shook his head. Shard didn't really feel any better.

Then the opening act came in, swore viciously and loudly, and Shard forgot all of this in place of extreme joy.

* * *

" _And you've got a $# &$ ing &%# in your bathroom!" _the lead singer of the Stinking Weasels sang, finishing his song, two hours later.

Elias was pretty sure Shard was laughing at him.

" _Thanks for…# $!...coming out tonight,_ " the lead singer said through the mic. He was probably drunk, just like the people in back of Elias were (he could smell their breath).

Elias looked over. Shard was basically out of breath from laughing.

Elias hadn't heard of a band so...uncouth, that was the word, he guessed...in his life. Their mothers would have had a heart attack. As it was Elias was definitely mortified at the language. But, he also realized that it was either deal with it or never hear the end of it from Shard again.

The band swore seven times in one line. That was fifteen times in the chorus alone. Elias reddened; he wasn't getting used to this any time soon. "I'm going to go get pizza," Elias told Shard.

Shard still wasn't done laughing at him. "Just make sure no one there mistakes you for a tomato!"

* * *

As Elias returned from the pizza stand, it was clear the concert was winding down. Some people were getting up. "I guess we'd better go, too, huh?" Shard asked. "It'd be trouble if we were the last out. Harder to get lost in the crowd."

Elias agreed. They filed out of the venue quietly, and Elias found the night air to be much less stifling than it had been outside. Incidentally, it was a perfect night for trouble.

"Ahh, I didn't do nothing wrong," someone behind the two agents spat. A security guard was escorting five people out. They were all drunk, all loudmouthed, and all irritable. Whatever they'd been kicked out for, they weren't happy about it.

The one who had spoken swore. His buddies all swore, too. None of them were really pleasant.

"They seem nice," Shard said lightly.

"Let's just walk a little faster," Elias muttered.

"Hey, look at these two punks," one of the drunk guys said before anyone could do anything. Elias' ears drooped. _For Pete's sake._ "You two get kicked out too?" they continued jeeringly.

"No," Shard said, accidentally. _Crud._

The one who had spoken leered. "Got a smart mouth on you, punk?"

Elias stopped, turned around, and tried to talk his way out. "My friend and I would actually love to just go home without any incident. So, if you wouldn't mind, we'll just be on our way now…"

"Fat chance." The speaker shoved Shard, a little harder than Shard would have liked.

Shard frowned. "Don't do that," he warned him.

"Or what?" The guy did it again.

"Or you'll get one of _these_ -" Shard started to cock back his fist, but Elias caught it and walked him over a few inches.

"Let me handle these guys," Elias whispered. "If they see through your disguise-"

"It's _dark_ out, they won't see a thing-"

"-it's hard to _miss_ a shiny black-and-yellow robot with glowing green eyes-"

"-fair enough."

"Right. They have less of a chance of recognizing me," Elias assured him.

"You two besties done talking? I'm hungry for a fight," the drunk complained. His buddies laughed. "I don't have all day," he continued, aiming a punch at Elias.

Both Elias and Shard dodged, Shard stepping away from the fight. Meanwhile, Elias got a few good hits in on his man.

"Hey, this one's looking for a fight, too!" the guy called. One of his buddies joined the fight, and they both tried to tackle Elias. Elias moved out of the way of one, ramming the other one with his shoulder and kicking him in the head. That guy went down.

"If you want to get home in one piece, you should let us go," Elias warned, while the gang looked at their fallen member. People were starting to officially leave the concert.

"Buddy. Look." Their "leader" was getting condescending. "It's five to one now. I think you should start running."

Shard felt his stomach drop. All five guys converged on Elias. Sure, the guy had handled worse, but if any one of these guys landed a hit, it would do quite a lot of damage. Thinking fast, Shard began to run. About as fast as his robot legs would take him, he carried everyone in the fight over to a less populated part of the city.

Everyone was dazed. A few of the drunk guys just passed out. Shard beaned the others in the head, and watched them pass out, then making sure Elias was okay.

"Shard! Look out, your hood fell!" Elias warned as soon as he realized what happened.

Shard's eyes widened as one of the gang members, not quite out yet, let loose a surprised yelp. "#&$!in freak!" he said before passing out. Two more echoed this thought.

Shard's spirits instantly dropped.

Elias noticed. "Shard, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine." It wasn't fine. "We shouldn't have come, anyway. I knew this would happen."

"What…? Shard, those guys are drunk. Don't pay them any mind," Elias said, trying to console him.

"My first regular people and they call me a freak," Shard mutters, ignoring Elias. "Let's go home."

The journey home was accompanied by a brooding silence.


	3. Chapter 3

"I haven't seen Shard around much today," Larry remarked.

That following morning, dinner was served as usual in the dining room. Larry sat next to Elias, commenting on Shard's absence.

"You think he's okay?" Larry said through a mouthful of food. Elias nodded.

"I'm sure he's fine," Elias lied. "He doesn't need to eat, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Hey, do these hot dogs taste funny to you? I hope I made them okay."

Elias decided to ignore the fact that Larry had (unluckily) lit the wieners on fire, and the fact that they tasted not unlike charcoal. "Yeah. They taste fine."

* * *

Shard showed up at breakfast the next day. Elias was up grabbing the syrup for his waffle when he saw him sit down.

Shard was laughing at something Larry had said, but not much. His conversation was all small talk, actually, and he'd left the table before Elias could come back.

"Where's he going?" Elias said, a little bugged by his behavior.

"He didn't say. Do you think we should check on him?" Silver said, picking up on Elias' thoughts intuitively.

"It's fine. I'll ask at lunch."

* * *

The lunch table was lively. Leeta and Lyco were telling one of their famous stories, which prompted Shard to stay-especially since this one was inordinately long. Actually, this one was so long that Larry was now asleep, but so enthralling that Silver, Elias and Shard were hanging onto every word.

But Elias felt his attention start to slip. That was okay - there was something else he needed to think about, to plan. How to get Shard to spill what was on his mind. Because "I'll ask at lunch" wasn't going to cut it, although he'd like for it to. Elias scratched his head.

"I'm going to the bathroom," he told Silver. "Ask Shard what's up, okay?"

Elias got up from the table and didn't go to the bathroom. Yeah, it was probably a little suspicious that he left in the middle of the story, but he had a plan that he had to carry out. Anyway, the point was that he was going to a place that wasn't the bathroom.

In the cafeteria, Shard told Silver that everything was okay, and that he had something to do. Just like Elias thought he would.

Elias walked into the room he meant to go into, and stood behind the door.

Shard left the cafeteria and started down a corridor. Going into his room, he slumped down on the bed. Everything was not okay. Also, he didn't have anything to do.

In answer to this, Elias turned on the light in Shard's room and closed the door. Shard jumped.

"Can you _not_?" Shard sputtered.

"That's not something I can do, Shard. I mean, something I can't do. Er. You get the point."

Shard sighed. "What's up? What do you wanna know?"

"You've been hiding from the team."

"I'm not hiding -"

"Avoiding us, then."

"That's fair."

"Shard doesn't just avoid people. Shard's a people person. He likes the team."

"Stop talking about me in the third person or I might have to punch myself."

"Alright, sorry." Elias rubbed the bridge of his nose in part embarrassment and part annoyance. "I'm just saying, you're not yourself."

"I'm fine," Shard retorted.

"You really aren't," Elias said. "What the heck happened at that concert? We fought off those guys, remember?"

"That's what happened, yep," Shard agreed unhelpfully.

"Look, Shard. I don't want you to get in trouble, or to hurt you, or something. I'm trying to be a part of the team, a friend. _Your_ friend."

"Part of the team involves knowing when to back off," Shard growled, changing his tone.

Elias' eyes narrowed. "Okay, then. I don't have to be a part of the team. I can go back to being team leader. I know what's in your file. I can make your life miserable."

Shard turned towards the wall. Elias didn't really know if he should apologize, or what. Certainly he felt bad after that last sentence, but he had a feeling Shard wouldn't care either way at this point if he apologized or not.

Neither spoke for a little while. Elias could _feel_ the sulk oozing off Shard. That was annoying.

"Ach. Whatever. You know how I said my bucket list was unrealistic?" Shard said, still not facing him.

Elias nodded, and realized that Shard could not see him nodding.

"I said why, didn't I?" Shard continued. "People look at me and see Metal. To them, I'm an ugly monster."

"Shard, that was a couple of drunks -"

"Sure, but they're people, so shut up and let me talk. I just wanted to apologize, Elias. I suggested this, and I had a bad time, and so I guess this is an apology for wasting your time…? I'm my own person, I know. It just kinda took that to make me realize how people actually see me."

Elias almost rolled his eyes. "Shard, was that really all this was about?"

"Yep."

"Do you listen to yourself talk?"

"Yep."

"Shard, I want you to know something. _Some_ people, a few people, might look at you and see Metal Sonic. But I look at you and I see this awesome robot who took on a life of his own and wisecracks like nobody's business. We _all_ look at you and see that. And maybe one day, the Secret Freedom Fighters can go public, and we can show the world how awesome you are."

"Huh." Shard rolled over to face Elias, hint of a smile on his face. "You really know how to stroke a guy's ego."

"Great. 'Thanks for $*!# coming out tonight,'" Elias quoted.

Shard couldn't help but laugh. "Nice. Now, do you want to know what your batting average says about your future or not?"


End file.
